I'll be your Duchess, if you'll be my Queen

Relic (Ch16)

"This is a relic," Ava says examining a red and yellow object that is on a stand-looking thing.

"A relic?!" Rhys asks intrigued by Ava's words. We all walk over to her as Asch looks at the 'relic'.

"Is it powerful?!" He questions, "Can it kill someone?!" Leif asks excitedly, I smile at the antics of the others, thinking about how different we all are.

One questions it as an object, one questions its power, another questions its ability to kill, while another studies the interactions of the first three. Yet, here we are. All together confused out of our minds. Ironic isn't it?

"It's gonna kill me with how complicated this thing is gonna be to fix," Ava comments seemingly annoyed about the task. Wait- what did she say?

"You can fix a relic?!" I ask looking at her in awe. I've never met someone who could fix a relic. I wanna learn!!

Ava sighs, "No, Mrs Oates brought this over and asked me to fix it for her. She's gonna pay me a lot to fix it and is probably gonna use it to take pics of the guys which I'm sure I could charge her for or something. Since you guys live here and stuff." I look at her confused. Why would that old lady want such a thing?

"Why does she want that?" Leif asks taking the words right out of my mouth.

"Because in her stupid fantasy, she thinks you guys are my boyfriends and at this point, I'm tired of fighting her on it. She's old, you know? And close to death? And I really like her so if anyone asks you guys are my boyfriends and y/n is my girlfriend or something? I don't know." Ava explains sounding rather uncertain by what she's saying.

But hey, she called me her girlfriend! That makes me happy... A human calling me their friend... If she knew why other humans would never I... She can't know.

I wonder what the difference is between a friend and a girlfriend... 

"It's funny, the elder humans here don't seem to be as terrifying as Lady Grandma." Leif states and I groan, "I'm so happy about that one. I was getting tired of being referred to as a thing." I say annoyed and Ava looks at us all, confused.

"W-Wait, Lady Grandma?" Ava asks and I nod, "Lady Grandma is the former queen of Daemos. And one of the most annoying-I mean powerful-" I try to explain but Ava cuts me off.

"Is she y'alls grandma?" Ava asks and I shake my head laughing slightly, "No Ava she's not, her name is Lady Grandma. She is Asch's grandmother though." I say looking towards Asch, then back at Ava, only to see a very confused look on her face.

"It doesn't matter, just finish fixing the relic! I wanna see how it works!" Asch demands angrily and Ava rolls her eyes.

"God could you just shut up!" Ava snaps back, I can't help but giggle at her response earning a death glare from Asch. I ignore him and look back over to Ava as she starts to explain the relic.

"Remember the camera for Instagram stuff we did?" Ava asks and we nod.

"Well it works the same way, it's just an older camera and-oh god, I didn't realise how old this camera is," Ava says inspecting it closer. "How old has Mrs Oates been alive?" Ava asks seemingly nobody as she drags her thumb gently across the old camera.

"May I take a look?" Rhys and I ask at the same time. We look at each other in shock slightly, before proceeding to laugh at both of our curiosities as we walk over to the camera. I guess this is what happens when you have two inquisitive people in the same room.

"Yeah go for it," Ava says chuckling at our behaviour. She goes off to do something that I'm not paying attention to as I inspect the camera.

It's made out of red wood-like material with gold-encrusted designs, the black cloth material is in a zig-zag form so it's easier to push back into the wood. The glass at the front is attached to the black material with a bunch of rune things behind it.

"Well?" Noi questions and I look over to Rhys who seems to be just as intrigued as I am about how this strange camera works.

"Fascinating, there are so many runes inside of it," Rhys says squinting as he analyses the camera.

I hear Ava laugh from behind her bedroom door, "Those aren't runes. They're screws and bolts and... Nuts? I guess?" Ava explains and I look towards her door. "Uh, what now?" I ask as she walks out and looks towards me.

"Well screws, nuts, and bolts are metal things humans invented to hold stuff together and make things work. That's the best way I can describe it anyway." Ava explains, "Now stand back. I'm going to attempt to fix this." She walks over to the camera confidently and I look at her, excitement in my eyes.

"Can I help?!" I ask almost jumping in the air with enthusiasm. Ava laughs at me and smiles, "Sure y/n." She says sweetly, her face relaxed and seemingly happy that I want to help.

"Yay!" I exclaim, "Where do we start?!"

We work on fixing the camera for a while, following what the other humans tell us on what Ava called a 'laptop'. Rhys studies what we are doing and helps us out here and there. We eventually got it done and I looked at it happily.

"How does it work?!" I ask excitedly, Ava giggles at my behaviour causing my face to feel warm again. I still haven't figured out how she's making my face do that. "How about we take a photo together? That way I can show you how it works."

I nod contently, showing my excitement, Ava chuckles and shakes her head smiling. She does that a lot when I act this way, does my childish behaviour amuse her? I should do it more often then. I like seeing her smile.

"Okay, can we move the couch so it's in front of-" Before she can finish her sentence I pick it up and hold it in the air with one hand. "Sorry, I got excited and didn't let you finish... Where do you want the couch?" I ask as I look towards her.

Her facial expression caught me off guard though, she was looking at me with stars in her eyes, a pure awe-struck expression. "How are you so strong?!" Ava asks not averting her gaze. I can feel my face start to warm again.

"Please, all of us can do that." Asch says not even remotely impressed and I smirk, trying to shake off the way Ava makes my face heat up, "Yeah, but you can't look this good while doing it." I state confidently. Asch just rolls his eyes.

"Can you move it over there y/n?" Ava asks and I nod before placing down the couch as Ava sets up the camera. When she's done she sits on the couch and gestures for me to sit with her.

Complying I sit next to her, "Hey Ava?" I question and she turns to me, signaling for me to continue. "What's the difference between a friend and a boy/girlfriend?" I ask and her face goes red.

It appears that I have the same effects on her that she has on me...

"Well, a friend is someone you hang out with but in a platonic way, like how you're friends with Rhys. While a boy/girlfriend is someone you hang out with in a more... Romantic way..." Ava explains. I have some idea as to what 'Romance' is but I'll not entirely sure since it's not well known on Daemos.

Whatever romance is it has Ava's face going redder so I choose to take the explanation as is. "You guys can sit with us you know?" Ava states, tilting her head back to look at the guys standing behind the couch.

"No way that couch is too soft." Leif comments, "I had to sleep on it." Asch complains and I laugh at their complaints, "You're complaining because it was too soft?" I ask in a mocking tone and Asch growls at me. He communicates like a child, just growling and complaining. He needs to get his head out of his ass.

The others start to complain too and it began to get annoying, "Okay geez. You guys don't like the couch. Can we take the photo now?" I ask and they roll their eyes at me but don't argue.

I look to Ava and nudge her playfully she laughs and nudges me back, "Okay everyone, smile!" She says happily and smiles at the camera.

I copy her until I hear the door being bashed down, "Ava did you-" I try asking her if she heard that, but I was cut off by someone yelling. "PUMPKIN!"